Don't forget to forget"

I turned to my traveling companions and said "I think I just shook hands with a piece of history!"  I was in a small home in Northern Thailand not far from the Burmese border.  A wrinkled elderly gentlemen had finished his testimony.  He wasn't speaking in English but even before the translator related his comments, I recognized his mention of Adoniram Judson.  He had said, "My grandfather was baptized by Adoniram Judson."

God called Adoniram Judson to be a missionary in Burma in the early 1800s in a time when most believers thought missions was a waste of time. Many years passed without a single convert. Judson served the Lord his whole life.  He suffered the loss of wives, children, friends and finance.  Perhaps his time on earth seemed a failure when measured by human standards.

Yet his faith in God and his faithfulness laid the foundation of missions as we know it today. Thousands have come to know salvation because of his persistence to share God's love with a few.  He has inspired hundreds to duplicate his call and go to other lands to live and tell of God's great love.

Today I am reminded that the fulfillment of God's plan has its own time schedule.  In Deuteronomy 25: 17-19 God tells the Israelites to remember the evil of the Amalekites, what they had done to them on the way out of Egypt and that the Amalekites had no fear of God.  The Israelites were to blot out the memory of the Amalekites.   God told them "Don't forget to forget them!"(That's a Jan Sipe translation!)

The evil of the Amalekites began well before the Israelites who heard these words were even born.  They were a generation removed from the exit from Egypt.   The Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim early in the journey to the Promised Land. (Exodus 17: 8-16) The Israelites defeated them but the victory came only when Moses kept his hands held up.  When his arms grew tired Aaron and Hur helped him sit and they held his arms up. That day they were instructed to write it down that the memory of the Amalekites would be blotted out!  Don't forget to forget them!

Generations later, Samuel told Saul (I Samuel 15) that it was time to punish the Amalekites for what they had done to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt.  Saul was not to spare any Amalekite human or animal.  He was to be the one to blot them out.  Yet he let Agag the king of the Amalekites live along with his best livestock.  He forgot to forget them and instead forgot what God said!

In our instant gratification mindset, it seems that fulfillment takes forever.  Yet these verses remind me that God has a plan with a completely different time frame.  I am reminded that I am to forget the obstacles along the journey but remember the victory and that the victory belongs to God.  I  may enjoy the fruits of the victory but God is the victor.  So my thought of "Don't forget to forget" means forget the effect of the obstacles, ignore the scars and don't live as a victim of the bumps along the journey.  Remember the victory, even when it has been a long time coming or perhaps is still yet to come, and that God is The Victor.  As Adoniram Judson was an ingredient in the fulfillment of God's plan to reach all people, so I am given the opportunity to be a part of God's plan.  Yet His timetable will be different from my desired timetable.

When I was a young girl facing life's slights and disappointments, my mother would ask me a question to keep these obstacles in perspective.  "In the span of eternity, just how important is this........?"  It may not have been the answer my young heart wanted to hear but the question eventually made me keep a balance to the power of disappointment.

My elderly Christian brother from Thailand will remind me that God has a  plan and I have a part in the plan if I so choose to follow God's call.  Adoniram Judson will remind me that I may not see the full fruit of my service but what I do is part of something much bigger than I could plan or imagine.  My  mom will also remind me not to think more of myself nor life's disappointments.  If God will insure that the Amalekites will get what they deserve, at just the right time,  He is certainly able to handle the obstacles in my lifetime.

Today I am reminded to trust The Plan, God's plan, and have patience, the victory is imminent.  I need to forget the obstacles in my journey and  refuse to live under their power.  I will remember that the victory is sure because God is in control, He is able and He has a plan!

Life's obstacles  present us with a choice- to allow the obstacles to form the path of our existence or to trust the One True God on the path of abundant life.  Don't forget to forget the obstacles.  Do remember that God is in control.

Remember me as The Sandaled

 



This is a photo of the organizer on the back of our bedroom door.  As you can see I have "a thing" for sandals.  I love to wear sandals.  My collection is smaller than usual.  Mickey, my young male dog, likes to eat them.  He is stealthy and quick to snap the strap so the sandal is no longer is functional.

Deuteronomy 25: 1-16 is a collection of curious instructions on crime and punishment, sharing your grain with the ox treading for you, a brother marrying his brother's widow, the improper method of rescuing your husband in a fight and using only one set of weights and measures.

These verses seem totally unrelated to each other and maybe to modern life.  Yet today they remind me of mercy, justice, fairness, honesty, integrity and my legacy.

Several years ago I attended the funeral of the father of a coworker.  After the grandchildren told stories of him and gave a compelling description of his character, I thought "Gee I wish I'd know him."

I frequently regale my son and my brother's daughters of stories of "MaMa", my mom and their grandmother to preserve her legacy.  I keep some of her possessions in the hope that her grandchildren will cherish these seemingly valueless objects to remind them of her character and personality.

In Deuteronomy 25: 5-10 God gives the instructions to brothers to marry their deceased brother's wife so the deceased brother will have a child to carry on his name and legacy.  God also gives the warning that failure to do so has consequences.  The consequence may not seem like punishment to us but in that culture to be known as "The Unsandaled" must have had quite a sting.

Today my sandal organizer will become a reminder to me to be merciful, to be just, to be fair, to be honest and have the reputation as a woman of integrity.  In today's world this goal can be a challenge.  Too many times in a week the thought of "this is not fair" crosses my mind.  God tells me to be fair in an unfair world.

My sandal organizer will be my reminder to build and protect my legacy by living my life according to God's love and way (The Sandaled), not the world(The Unsandaled).  I want to be known as "The Sandaled" because of how I live my life and not because I have a large collection of sandals!  (Thanks Mickey for keeping the collection number low.)



12 and counting

More miscellaneous laws? Not even close! This is a special learning for a special day!

Deuteronomy 24: 10-22 tells the Israelites how to be rich.  They had been slaves and nomads but very soon they would be landowners, powerful and have more wealth than they could imagine. The prosperity to come will also mean responsibility. 

God tells the Israelites to give their debtors dignity, to not go into  their homes to collect the collateral; to pay their laborers every day because the laborers will be counting on it; not to take advantage of foreigners, orphans or widows; to leave some of the harvest available for the poor to glean.  God reminds them to remember that they once were Egyptian slaves. 

God instructs the Israelites to be generous, to be honest and to provide for the powerless.  He also tells them that their attitude for being generous, honest and caring was not to gain God's favor but they were to remember how God blessed and delivered and be thankful.

God reminds them to  be kind to the lost and those who have lost because they once were lost.  God is giving the Israelites examples of how to live out one of my  themes for the Book of Deuteronomy- God does not leave us alone.  He reminds them that once they felt alone but He heard their cries as slaves and delivered them. He will give them opportunities to share their blessings with those in need.

These verses are a lesson in how to act when you are blessed. The key word for me today is Remember. Remember your past.  Remember why you are blessed.  Remember to do as commanded.  Remember you are never alone.  God is always with you.

Today is a special day of remembrance for me. Today I mark 12 years as a cancer survivor. I celebrate the freedom from that disease but more importantly, I celebrate today as the day I really learned that I am never alone.  My family and friends rallied around me 12 years ago and were tangible reminders that God was and is in control of my life.  God loves me and will provide for me.

Today I am planning on partying with cake, pie, friends and maybe flowers.  Yet I want to begin the day remembering that I AM NEVER ALONE- God is always with me.  I hope I have reminded others of this great blessing.